Bollywood's unluckiest film title gave 3 big flops; ended heroine's career, gave star depression, left makers bankrupt

Whether a name affects someone’s destiny or not is a topic up for debate but one thing is for certain, people associated with three films – with the same title – may be forgiven to believe it does. Three Bollywood films released in different years and decades. All they had in common was one word, the title. And all of them tanked at the box office, effectively ending careers, and derailing their stars’ mental health.

How Karz became Bollywood’s unluckiest title

It may be a cult classic now but when it was released, Subhash Ghai’s reincarnation drama Karz did not do wonders at the box office. The film, which starred Rishi Kapoor, Simi Garewal, Neetu Kapoor, and Raj Kiran, was released in 1980. A remake of Hollywood film The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, the film was released amid much fanfare but managed only Rs 3.9 crore worldwide and was rated an average grosser. It was also affected by the mega-budget action Qurbani, which released a week later.

Two decades later, Harry Baweja used the title in his Sunny Deol-starrer Karz: The Burden of Truth. The film was released when Sunny was at the peak of his stardom after hits like Gadar and Champion. The other two leads – Suniel Shetty and Shilpa Shetty – were also coming to the theatres on the back of hits. And yet, Karz, like its 1980 namesake, tanked, barely recovering its budget. It was also panned by critics.

In 2008, the title, with some modifications, was again used in the Himesh Reshammiya-starrer Satish Kaushik film Karzzzz, a remake of the 1980 flop. This remake was an even bigger flop than the original, earning just Rs 16 crore on a Rs 24-crore budget. As per reports, many of the investors were pushed to the brink of bankruptcy here.

How Karz’s failures affected its stars

Rishi Kapoor and Subhash Ghai have both gone on record to say that the 1980 film’s failure hit them hard. In 2008, Ghai told Rediff that he considered the film ahead of its time, which is why critics couldn’t understand it. In his memoirs, Rishi Kapoor said that he became depressed after the film did not work as he was so heavily invested in it. The 2008 Karzzzz was even harsher on its stars. It pretty much derailed Urmila Matondkar’s career. The actress had been one of the most successful heroines of her generation for a decade-and-a-half but after Karzzzz, offers dried up. She has not done a full length role in a Hindi film since 2008, appearing in only a handful of cameos.